It looks like I'm late to the party, but Google Groups search no longer brings up any posts from before 1999. That's a bit unfortunate because it was a great archive of troubleshooting info. I wonder what the Google strategy is here..... Do people actually use Groups for other stuff?
It does seem to bring up older results for me, at least when I search within a specific group.
Still, the search hasn't really worked right for ages and is severely gimped, especially considering that we're talking about Google here. Bringing it to a useful state probably isn't really worth the effort for them.
You're right I do get useful results if I search within a group. At least that's something.
I regularly use the IBM PS/2 newsgroup.
What's even more annoying is that old-style Google Groups URLs that point to specific messages (in the format "groups.google.com/groups?selm=[SOME_ID]") don't even work anymore. They just redirect you to the main Groups page, and injecting the same message ID into a new-style URL doesn't work either.
I don't know when *that* change was made, but it breaks a huge amount of useful links that have been on the web for ages. If anyone has a workaround, please share.
wrote:What's even more annoying is that old-style Google Groups URLs that point to specific messages (in the format "groups.google.com/groups?selm=[SOME_ID]") don't even work anymore. They just redirect you to the main Groups page, and injecting the same message ID into a new-style URL doesn't work either.
I don't know when *that* change was made, but it breaks a huge amount of useful links that have been on the web for ages. If anyone has a workaround, please share.
That change was probably done years ago as my links to Google Group posts in my 3D accelerated lists is in the "new" format:
http://bit.ly/SWfC6O (had to post like this or Vogons messes the link up)
Other than that I think this sucks. Archive.org has nothing on usenet posts?
I left feedback on Google Groups about the issue. I recommend you others also do it.
EDIT: We're not the only one complaining: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/google-a-sea … sible-to-search
Feedback sent.
I did some research and Google has acknowledged it is a known problem and is working on a fix:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topi … pps/kej8-gpVvSU
LMcKin51- Google apps-Top Contributor said:
This is an Known issue with this a fix has been file but i don't know when the fixed be push out.
Well, a certain "R.A.F." from Google claimed to have fixed this problem (or a related one?) back in May: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topi … pps/JEIYhpk7aaE
...but the very link he gives in his triumphant post is *yet again* yielding no results. After all, those relaxing massages and gourmet meals are still free at the Google campus, right? 😁
Yeah, this is a huge pet peeve of mine and I reported it WAY way back. (I had helped Google collect USENET archive discs back in the day, so I have an axe to grind.) It's been terribly broken for years. It worked momentarily after the vice.com article IIRC, then went back to being broken.
As to Archive.org, if I recall correctly a long long time ago they mentioned having a small (comparatively speaking) USENET archive, but it was only available to researchers with physical access to their headquarters. This was long ago back in the Archive's early days, it said something about this on their website, they may still have info about this somewhere.
If Google is going to be such a bad preserver of this info, then I'd like to see them work out a deal with Archive.org (Will Never Happen).
"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen
Stiletto
Okay, so the Archive.org USENET archive has expanded through a partnership with Giganews amongst others:
https://archive.org/details/usenet
I think the ancient collection they used to talk about but not offer directly online might actually be this, though I cannot easily verify:
https://archive.org/details/usenethistorical
All this is not directly browsable or searchable, but you can at least download it.
"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen
Stiletto
Google Groups seems to be functioning again to some degree. I'm seeing results from prior to 1999 again.
wrote:Google Groups seems to be functioning again to some degree. I'm seeing results from prior to 1999 again.
I did some poking around after reading your post. Found an old post from 1995 where I was asking if I should buy an Ultrasound Ace. A couple of other posts helped me pinpoint when I upgraded from a Cyrix 5x86 to a 6x86MX.
