Re: Virus Groups in Yahoo? The End of Newsgroups
From: Phil Weldon (notdisclosed_at_example.com)
Date: 11/05/03
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Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 20:09:40 GMT
>From an unpromising beginning, this is turning out to be an intersting
thread about information. To focus more on virus information, I surveyed
the Usenet newsgroups available on my ISP's news servers
(Earthlink/Mindspring news servers keep posts for three months.)
Thirty-seven newsgroups have 'virus' in the newsgroup name or description
(actually, all 37 have 'virus' in the name.) Of these 37, one is biological
and 18 are not viable. Of the 18 viable, computer virus, newsgroups, ten
are in various languages other than english, two are Symantec specific, two
consist completely of virus alerts, and two are microsoft.public.* On my
ISP (Earthlink/Mindspring) news servers, the two largest collections of
posts are on microsoft.public.security.virus (over 24,000 posts) and
fr.comp.securite.virus (over 16,000 posts.) Of the 18 viable, the numbers
of posts (on my ISP's news servers) are about
24,000 microsoft.public.security.virus
14,000 fr.comp.securite.virus
8,500 alt.comp.virus
8,000 alt.comp.anti-virus
6,500 tw.bbs.comp.virus
5,000 nl.comp.virus
4,000 dk.edb.skkerhed.virus
2,000 es.comp.virus
2,000 microsoft.public.scripting.virus
1,500 alt.comp.virus.sourcecode
1,000 no.it.sikkerhet.virus
500 fido7.adinfo.support
500 maus.computer.sicherheit.virus
500 symantec.support.winnt.nortonantivirus.general
>500
>500
>500
>500.
I think I agree with N. Miller's comparasion basis, the largest volume 20%
vs. the largest volume 20% is a good way to compare the VOLUME of
information, though only secondarily an indication of the QUALITY of
information (assuming that the volume of posts will, to some extent, depend
on the quality of information and signal to noise ratio.)
So now a similar survey of Yahoo, based on the Top > Computers & Internet >
Security > Viruses hierarchy which lists 140 groups.
Well, that is not so easy. Of the 140 groups listed, 118 are 'Members Only'
or 'Moderators Only', so not only are the posts in these groups invisible,
it is impossible to be completely sure if they are actually on topic. Some
obiviously are from the description. Many are related to writing viruses
and worms. Some are sexually orientated.
Of the remaining 22, two don't exist and two are off topic, and five have
had no posts in the last three months. That leaves nine. The TOTAL number
of posts for August, September, and Novemver for the nine remaining groups
is 342, with the three largest volume groups having 200, 99, and 27, leaving
the rest with 8, 4, 2, 1, 1, and 1. The group with 200 messages is focused
on virus and worm hoaxes. The group with 99 posts is almost all forwarded
messages.
This survey leads me to think of YaHoo groups as not a nice place; more
likely to be aid to wannabe malware producers that a source of information
to combat virus and worm infections.
-- Phil Weldon, philweldonatmindjumpdotcom For communication, replace "at" with the 'at sign' replace "mindjump" with "mindspring." replace "dot" with "." "WuzzBot" <mtnviews@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:3FA8B292.EC0632A3@earthlink.net... > Which one is C.B.? Try visiting stringtheory, TEWLIP, quantum_theory, or > chemistry_hotline on YG. > > BTW, do you have any idea how many NGs are contain about 5 postings or are 80% > spam? Lots. > > "N. Miller" wrote: > > > In article <3FA17F6B.797D1094@earthlink.net>, mtnviews@earthlink.net says... > > > I wouldn't bet on it (size of YG). Way easier to create Y groups. > > > > I wouldn't care to try and guess how many Y-Groups exist. I would, however, > > suspect that 80% of them consist of 20, or fewer, participants. I would also > > hazard a guess that the 20% of the most active Usenet groups consist of a > > significantly larger participation than the 20% of the most active Y-Groups. > > > > > I saw one the other day that a guy created for some extremely narrow > > > interest. I'd be willing to bet there are easily as many topics. I think I > > > entered the word virus last night and got something like 500 or more > > > newsgroups that deal with them in some way or another. I'm familiar with > > > the extent of NGs. Yes, there are many, and some equally odd as the YG. > > > It takes about 1 hour or less to create your own YG, > > > and requires very little computer knowledge. > > > > I am a Yahoo! user, and I don't frequent the Y-Groups at all. How many who > > don't use Yahoo! are also not participating? I think I was signed up for one > > group, once. It was not nearly as edifying as alt.webtv, or A.S.S.C. (you > > figure them out; or ask me by email; not fit to reveal for sensitive types, > > and not terribly edifying, either, even after blocking out the spam!). > > > > The difference between the Y-Groups and the Usenet is somewhat like the > > difference between C.B. radio and HAM radio. > > > > -- > > Norman > > ~Win dain a lotica, En vai tu ri, Si lo ta > > ~Fin dein a loluca, En dragu a sei lain > > ~Vi fa-ru les shutai am, En riga-lint >
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