USENET Feeds 100% Operational

[Apophis]

The new USENET feeds are now completely operational. New messages will be pulled down from our upstream server every 30 minutes and any messages posted in those threads will be pushed up as well. The USENET groups have been broken down into separate Forums categories much like we did with the game forums. Several new groups have also been added and more will be added in the coming days.

The functionality separating the USENET posts from the New Posts link on the top navigation bar should be complete over the next day or two, allowing you to choose to view new posts originating from Tactical Gamer or view new posts coming from the USENET feeds. This should alleviate the congestion in the new posts system that many of you have experienced when logging on to find 15,000 new posts in an hour.

When a feed is first added to the system, our server will go out and make a MASSIVE pull of articles, pulling anything that exists on our upstream server at the time of the connection. This can be a hefty pull as our provider has excellent retention, so you will see a ton of new posts when the feed is first created. After a couple propagation cycles, things will calm down and only the new posts coming in will be marked and the system becomes much more manageable.

Access to read articles in the USENET forums is open to all registered users of Tactical Gamer. Posting, however, is restricted to only Tactical Gamer supporting members as this is a premium service that costs us money to provide.

In addition to the groups that we have already picked up, supporting members are encouraged to suggest new groups for us to carry. A full list of all available newsgroups is available by clicking HERE. Please send me a PM with any new newsgroup requests and I will do my best to accommodate you. And before you ask... no, we're not going to carry any of the alt.binaries groups.

I hope all of you take the time to check out this new functionality, as it has a lot to offer in the way of communication and information in a variety of areas. If you're not familiar with USENET, this is a very easy way for you to get your feet wet and participate in discussion with hundreds of thousands of people from around the world in an easy and convenient way.