List spam

[Ned Deily]

In article 
<CAK--mtqOq0ScvoFZFZfcd7Jf9N1YjcpqYjCrDxgtxxPdoyCxWg at mail.gmail.com>,
 Ghodmode <ghodmode at ghodmode.com> wrote:
> Newsgroups aren't inherently spam-free.  They're filtered.  At least
> that's the case with Gmane (http://gmane.org/spam.php).
> 
> My own ISP doesn't provide a news server and, although there are many
> links for free open news servers, most of them don't seem to work.
> 
> I did check, though.  I found a free, open news server with
> comp.lang.python after 6 that didn't work.  Unfortunately, the one I
> found is read-only.  I'll have to do some more looking if I want to
> participate in the newsgroup.  I set it up in Thunderbird.  I waited
> for a few minutes while it loaded the available newsgroups, then
> filtered the list for comp.lang.python and subscribed.  I noticed
> that, when clicking on a message, there is another delay while I wait
> for the content of the message to load.
> 
> I was happy to see significantly less spam in the newsgroup than in
> the mailing list, but there was still more than I see in other mailing
> lists.
> 
> For me, this is much more difficult, although I'm sure that this is a
> matter of perspective.  Also, I have something that's tied to this
> computer.  I can't read it on my laptop, my mobile device, or at a
> cyber-cafe.  I have to sit in front of this computer if I want to read
> the newsgroup and, until I find another news server that isn't
> read-only, I can't even post messages.

Confusingly, this "forum" is available via a number of channels.  Here 
is a subset of them (there are more):

1. python-list mailing list
   http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
2. comp.lang.python
   news:comp.lang.python  (Usenet group via NNTP)
3. google groups
4. gmane (various formats)
   http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.general
   a.  gmane.comp.python.general (non-Usenet group via NNTP)
   b.  web interfaces

All of the above allow both reading and posting.  gmane does spam 
filtering so, if you read and post through it, you will avoid most of 
the spam (a little bit gets through).  The gmane nntp server (which is 
for gmane groups only, not regular Usenet groups) is free to use. 

http://gmane.org/about.php

-- 
 Ned Deily,
 nad at acm.org