Minutes/2023-06-23

Present: TM, RL

• Administration
  • RL looked into the ISC archive for comp.dcom.telecom and turned up nothing. TM suggested simply using "comp.dcom.telecom" as the archive name, if we do end up posting about the moderator change. RL to ask Bill Horne if he'd like us to do this as a courtesy.
  • RL asked about the current state of anti-spam cancelbots – is anyone still running them? TM suggested to ask about this on news.admin.net-abuse.usenet and to discuss the result at the next meeting.
• Infrastructure
  • RL has fixed the Big-8's webmail (again).
  • RL has fixed a number of dead links on the Big-8 wiki reported by Marco Moock.
• (Web)STUMP
  • For the STUMP project, RL has added an additional field for release target, and also a corresponding custom search form. RL will do the same for WebSTUMP.
  • RL has made some more minor updates to the documentation, applied to a separate branch. TM to review when available.
  • TM has not yet asked about GPG best signing practices but will do so soon.
• Publicity
  • TM has pinged Liam Proven, who has responded that he is working on an angle for a possible story, and mentioned that he got a few upvotes on a story posted to Hacker News.
  • Apropos of this, TM has noted a spate of very recent Hacker News posts about Usenet:
    • Usenet thrived in a time where most of us trusted each other…
    • Ask HN: Is it time to resurrect a Usenet clone?
    • Why did Usenet fail?
    • Ask HN: Discussions on Usenet?
    • Usenet over NNCP
  • Re Web–Usenet gateways, RL has learned of some Web BBSes with direct(?) gateways to Usenet, via a GPL'd PHP frontend that is under active maintenance. RL to look into compiling these gateways onto a wiki page, perhaps sorted by protocol/network (mail, Web, FidoNet).
  • RL has been corresponding on Mastodon with Katherine Cox-Buday (@katco@mstdn.social) on popularizing Usenet, for example, by exposing WebSockets interfaces. RL to ask about the possibility of a meeting with the Board.
  • GNU 40th Anniversary event