Does anyone have a long soc.* retention?

[Nigel Reed]

Hi news admins,

I was looking at one of my groups and someone mentioned that since
Google Groups changed, it's hard to find old articles.

I'm wondering if anyone has a large retention of soc.* groups. I'm
thinking 10-20+ years? I would love to peer with them.

Also open to other peers if anyone is looking.

Thanks,
Nigel

[John Levine]

Post by Nigel Reed
Hi news admins,
I was looking at one of my groups and someone mentioned that since
Google Groups changed, it's hard to find old articles.
I'm wondering if anyone has a large retention of soc.* groups. I'm
thinking 10-20+ years? I would love to peer with them.

The big providers like Giganews and Easynews all have at least a decade
of text newsgroups, and many of them will peer with anyone. But that
doesn't mean they'll backfill a decade of soc.bananans for you. If
you want old messages, sign up as a customer. They're pretty cheap.

[Nigel Reed]

On Thu, 19 May 2022 01:12:06 -0000 (UTC)

Post by John Levine

Post by Nigel Reed
Hi news admins,
I was looking at one of my groups and someone mentioned that since
Google Groups changed, it's hard to find old articles.
I'm wondering if anyone has a large retention of soc.* groups. I'm
thinking 10-20+ years? I would love to peer with them.

The big providers like Giganews and Easynews all have at least a
decade of text newsgroups, and many of them will peer with anyone.
But that doesn't mean they'll backfill a decade of soc.bananans for
you. If you want old messages, sign up as a customer. They're
pretty cheap.

Thanks for the suggestion, but it sort of defeats the object of having
my own news server if I'm just going to buy service elsewhere.

[Jesse Rehmer]

Post by Nigel Reed
Thanks for the suggestion, but it sort of defeats the object of having
my own news server if I'm just going to buy service elsewhere.

Setting up a server and getting peers is relatively easy, but finding a
longtime admin willing to take time set things up to feed you old
articles is a bigger feat. I attempted several years back, but
partially due to dropping the ball on my end, and since only one person
was willing at the time, it didn't happen. Hopefully someone will see
your request and be willing.

If you have a small number of groups you want to backfill, with a
commercial provider you could use something like pullnews or suck.

[John Goerzen]

Post by Jesse Rehmer
If you have a small number of groups you want to backfill, with a
commercial provider you could use something like pullnews or suck.

You could start with files like these from archive.org:

https://archive.org/details/gna-soc

Found from:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=usenet+soc&sin=

There are a lot of dumps out of Giganews on archive.org if you poke around. You
could then supplement with suck for the more current stuff.

- John

[John Goerzen]

Post by John Goerzen

Post by Jesse Rehmer
If you have a small number of groups you want to backfill, with a
commercial provider you could use something like pullnews or suck.

https://archive.org/details/gna-soc

Here's another:

https://archive.org/details/usenet-soc

- John

[Nigel Reed]

On Thu, 23 Jun 2022 13:48:50 -0000 (UTC)

Post by John Goerzen

Post by John Goerzen

Post by Jesse Rehmer
If you have a small number of groups you want to backfill, with a
commercial provider you could use something like pullnews or suck.

https://archive.org/details/gna-soc

https://archive.org/details/usenet-soc
- John

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Julien ÉLIE]

Hi Nigel,

Post by Nigel Reed

Post by John Levine

Post by Nigel Reed
I'm wondering if anyone has a large retention of soc.* groups. I'm
thinking 10-20+ years? I would love to peer with them.

The big providers like Giganews and Easynews all have at least a
decade of text newsgroups, and many of them will peer with anyone.
But that doesn't mean they'll backfill a decade of soc.bananans for
you. If you want old messages, sign up as a customer. They're
pretty cheap.

Thanks for the suggestion, but it sort of defeats the object of having
my own news server if I'm just going to buy service elsewhere.

You could just set up a peer with them (to obtain new articles) and in
parallel take their 14-day free trial and suck all the old articles you
want during that time.