GEN-MEDIEVAL Administrator
2024-01-30 23:32:51 UTC
As most here are aware, Google Groups will no longer serve as a venue for participating in the Usenet newsgroup soc.genealogy.medieval (or any other Usenet groups) effective 22 February. The group, however, will continue to exist in its original form on Usenet, but accessing it there requires the use of a separate set of software and servers. Everything I will describe here has already been discussed in the group by myself and others, but often buried within other threads, and I thought it would be useful to create a dedicated message with a clear Subject line, for those who might access the archive after Google Groups cuts off access to the newsgroup.
What you need to know:
Though soc.gen.med is presented on Google Groups as if it was a web-based discussion board, this was just the way Google chose to make the content available. Soc.gen.med has always been, and remains, a Usenet newsgroup - a type of online discussion board that predates the existence of web pages. Google just provided a web-based viewer for this non-web content.
In order to participate in soc.genealogy.medieval after Google lowers the boom, you will need to arrange two things. First, you will need software that is capable of reading this type of material. For those who use a non-web-based format for their mail, that mail software is likely to also be able to read newsgroup content. If you use a web-based mail service (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo) or some other services (Outlook), then you will need to install a separate program (which could also be used to read your mail, if you choose to do so). One popular choice is Thunderbird, non-commercial (volunteer-produced) freeware (donations welcomed) by the same collaboration that produces the Firefox browser. This is not the only option, and you can search the web for others, but it is a popular one.
The second thing you will need is a Usenet feed. Google was providing this, behind the scenes, but now you will need a source for the Usenet messages. Back in the day, a newsgroup feed was part of the bundle of services that came with internet access from your internet service provider, but most have dropped it. Many users now access Usenet as a separately-provided service. There are fee-based providers, but also free (donations welcomed) ones, notably Eternal September. Your provider will supply you with the information you need to direct your mail/newsgroup reader software to access the provider's Usenet newsgroup feed.
The process, then is that you will need to set up an account with a provider of a Usenet (newsgroup) feed, and will need to configure your mail/newsgroup software (which you will have to install if you are not already using mail software with that capability) to access the newsgroup account you have set up.
Given the volume of people who have been using Google Groups for Usenet, there is no shortage of instructions online for going through this process, for just about every combination of mail/newsgroup reader software and newsgroup feed provider. If you choose the Thunderbird/Eternal September route, the following are step-by-step instructions:
https://www.big-8.org/wiki/Getting_Started_with_Usenet
I recently went through this process, and it took less than a half-hour for Thunderbird download and installation, setting up an Eternal September account, getting the two to talk to each other, and subscribing to the soc.genealogy.medieval group (where 'subscribing' is not a formal process, it is just telling your reader that you wish to follow that group).
The only modification to the instructions, based on my own recent experience, is that when I first connected Thunderbird to Eternal September, the only newsgroups I could access were internal test newsgroups run by Eternal September (these are described int eh instructions but as if they had to be sought out among all of the Usenet ones). It was only after I subscribed to one of those test groups and made a test that I could then return to Subscribe, hit Refresh, and have access to the tens of thousands of Usenet newsgroups, including soc.genealogy.medieval. (You can unsubscribe from the test newsgroup at any time thereafter.) I do not know if my installation was unusual, or if mine is more typical and the instruction preparer had a different experience because they had already completed this prerequisite and forgot/didn't realize it would not show a newbie all the Usenet groups until the test posting had been made.
taf
What you need to know:
Though soc.gen.med is presented on Google Groups as if it was a web-based discussion board, this was just the way Google chose to make the content available. Soc.gen.med has always been, and remains, a Usenet newsgroup - a type of online discussion board that predates the existence of web pages. Google just provided a web-based viewer for this non-web content.
In order to participate in soc.genealogy.medieval after Google lowers the boom, you will need to arrange two things. First, you will need software that is capable of reading this type of material. For those who use a non-web-based format for their mail, that mail software is likely to also be able to read newsgroup content. If you use a web-based mail service (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo) or some other services (Outlook), then you will need to install a separate program (which could also be used to read your mail, if you choose to do so). One popular choice is Thunderbird, non-commercial (volunteer-produced) freeware (donations welcomed) by the same collaboration that produces the Firefox browser. This is not the only option, and you can search the web for others, but it is a popular one.
The second thing you will need is a Usenet feed. Google was providing this, behind the scenes, but now you will need a source for the Usenet messages. Back in the day, a newsgroup feed was part of the bundle of services that came with internet access from your internet service provider, but most have dropped it. Many users now access Usenet as a separately-provided service. There are fee-based providers, but also free (donations welcomed) ones, notably Eternal September. Your provider will supply you with the information you need to direct your mail/newsgroup reader software to access the provider's Usenet newsgroup feed.
The process, then is that you will need to set up an account with a provider of a Usenet (newsgroup) feed, and will need to configure your mail/newsgroup software (which you will have to install if you are not already using mail software with that capability) to access the newsgroup account you have set up.
Given the volume of people who have been using Google Groups for Usenet, there is no shortage of instructions online for going through this process, for just about every combination of mail/newsgroup reader software and newsgroup feed provider. If you choose the Thunderbird/Eternal September route, the following are step-by-step instructions:
https://www.big-8.org/wiki/Getting_Started_with_Usenet
I recently went through this process, and it took less than a half-hour for Thunderbird download and installation, setting up an Eternal September account, getting the two to talk to each other, and subscribing to the soc.genealogy.medieval group (where 'subscribing' is not a formal process, it is just telling your reader that you wish to follow that group).
The only modification to the instructions, based on my own recent experience, is that when I first connected Thunderbird to Eternal September, the only newsgroups I could access were internal test newsgroups run by Eternal September (these are described int eh instructions but as if they had to be sought out among all of the Usenet ones). It was only after I subscribed to one of those test groups and made a test that I could then return to Subscribe, hit Refresh, and have access to the tens of thousands of Usenet newsgroups, including soc.genealogy.medieval. (You can unsubscribe from the test newsgroup at any time thereafter.) I do not know if my installation was unusual, or if mine is more typical and the instruction preparer had a different experience because they had already completed this prerequisite and forgot/didn't realize it would not show a newbie all the Usenet groups until the test posting had been made.
taf