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has google stopped destroying things yet? https://lwn.net/Articles/827233/ https://lwn.net/Articles/827233/

• irrational 6y ago
  Killing things is what Google seems to do best (well, first buying, creating, or controlling them and then killing them). They are sort of like the cancer of the Internet.
• jodrellblank 6y ago
  > and it's not great, since there is no other comprehensive archive after Google's purchase of Dejanews around 20 years ago. Bit unreasonable to complain that Google is evil because they don't want to keep an archive of Usenet when the only reason this is an issue is because nobody else wanted to do that either. Every organization which ran an NNTP server had a copy of all messages because Usenet is decentralised, every single one could have kept an archive and didn't, it's not like websites where nobody but the webserver host has full access. Not gonna go as far as saying "it cannot be evil to do what everyone else does", but if there is only one remaining archive on the planet and you desperately value it ... why are you shitting on the company which owns it?
  • microtherion 6y ago
    To me, there are two problems with what Google did here: * As long as they provide the service, it's difficult for any other competitors to get traction. Once upon a time, their Usenet archive was great, and gradually they eroded the search and the UI. * As far as I know, they never offered their archive through NNTP or any open protocol. It seems to me that if they offered the archives now, a number of organizations might at least consider stepping up. Instead, they seem to operate as a data roach motel.
• iso947 6y ago
  The irony is that one major complaint about sites like google is that they don’t forget. When it comes to usenet though...